The top transportation officials of Maryland, Virginia and the District released a two-year plan for reforming Metro on Monday, calling for the 14-person board of directors to focus solely on high-level policies and change how they are paid and how long the chairman serves. Most of the changes would require passing matching legislation in each jurisdiction, a task that state officials acknowledge could take time.
But the 16-page transportation secretaries’ report also has current board members questioning how to implement some of the immediate changes.
“Right now we’re kind of caught between the past and the future,” said Mortimer Downey, a federal Metro representative.
The report comes after a riders’ advocacy group and business-government task force made two sets of recommendations late last year on how the transit agency should be reformed in the wake of the June 2009 train crash and other subsequent safety problems. In response, the governors of Maryland and Virginia and the D.C. mayor had asked their transportation leaders to make a plan for reforming Metro.
“While the original framework for the board may have been appropriate, a new approach is needed to effectively oversee the management and operations,” the plan says.
The agencies said they would like members to have staggered terms and receive equal compensation. Board members currently receive anywhere from no pay in D.C. to $100,000 for the Prince George’s County alternate.
The most immediate reform, though, to create a “multiyear, regionally focused chairmanship” instead of rotating from jurisdiction to jurisdiction each year has prompted the most confusion, as Downey said the legal compact establishing Metro does not currently allow a multiyear term.
Furthermore, the board is expected to switch the role on Jan. 27 from Maryland representative Peter Benjamin to Fairfax County Supervisor Catherine Hudgins for a one-year term.
“I’m having a hard time understanding what exactly they are asking us to fix,” said Fairfax County Supervisor Jeff McKay. “My concern is we’ve got a lot going on right now, choosing a new general manager, having a new chairman and half the board has left. … Just jumping at this is not going to serve the board well.”
